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The reverse logistics industry is growing and changing rapidly right now, especially when it comes to processes and returns handling. Although your 3rd party logistics company or in-house warehouse is doing great, there’s always room for improvement. These are some of the most important trends in reverse logistics right now: More Ways to Dispose of Products That Can’t Be Directly Resold The traditional route for disposal of unexpired products that are too dated to sell or can’t be resold for a large enough margin for other reasons has been either selling them for scrap or paying for disposal in landfills. There are a few emerging channels that have the potential to recapture more income while still dealing with unwanted returned ...

Not every eCommerce retailer deals in non-perishable goods, even though many 3rd party logistics companies (3PL) run their companies like that’s all there is out there. Fragile products such as cosmetics and nutraceuticals, for example, can’t be stored outdoors or in a non-insulated warehouse where temperatures can fluctuate wildly. For these more delicate items, a temperature-controlled warehouse is the only way to go. What is a Temperature-Controlled Warehouse? When you think of warehousing and distribution, you probably imagine a basic metal storage building without much going for it. That’s not what you get with a temperature-controlled warehouse. Instead of being little more than barns, temperature-controlled warehouses much more closely resemble office buildings. They even have most of the same amenities, ...

Pouring over the data generated by your eCommerce product fulfillment software can be a great way to get insights into how your customers think, feel and behave, as well as what products need to be removed from your shelves. One thing your data can’t tell you, though, is exactly why your visitors are abandoning their shopping carts with so much zeal. That little piece of information is out there, though, and understanding it can help avoid shopping cart abandonment rates going forward. It All Comes Down to Shipping When you set your shop up, you probably spent a lot of time figuring out just how much to charge for various products, as well as what you’d charge for shipping. As ...

Brick-and-mortar stores have been slowly losing out to eCommerce sites for a while, as online stores and jewelry fulfillment services get more sophisticated, fast and accurate. Sadly, fine jewelers are also feeling the pinch, with over 1,200 stores closing in 2016, a 50 percent increase year over year. There is still plenty of potential for fine jewelry stores, but retailers like yourself have to start thinking about using the web, where fine jewelry sales are growing at a rate of 10 to 15 percent per year, as opposed to 3 to 5 percent for the overall market. What Does a Digital Fine Jewelry Store Need? Breaking into eCommerce isn’t as simple as building any old website and waiting for customers ...

eCommerce retailers are always looking for ways to stand apart from the competition, from creating flashy custom shipping materials to cultivating reputations for providing truly unique products to their customer base. But there’s one very easy thing you can do to make a huge statement that you probably never thought about: just polybag it! What is Polybagging? Polybagging is a simple process where a printed item, like a catalog, or small, loose items, like the hardware for your company’s line of sun shades, are sealed into a polythene bag by a machine. It’s not magic, and there’s really nothing fancy about it, but polybagging can help call attention to a particular part of your order fulfillment presentation or carefully segregate ...

Whether anyone is happy to admit it or not, the fact of the matter is that Amazon has turned the novelty of fast, free shipping into a consistent fact of life for eCommerce shoppers today. Where once delivery in a week was considered acceptable, today’s online customers are demanding increasingly fast speeds. In recent years, the vast majority of shoppers have come to consider “fast shipping” to mean two-day delivery. How Can an SMB Compete with Amazon’s Free Shipping Speeds? There’s a real anxiety among many small- to medium-sized businesses that they’ll not be able to compete with Amazon for speed and parcel shipping prices. It’s not a fear that’s unfounded, but it shouldn’t keep you awake at night. The ...

One of the biggest puzzles for a growing eCommerce business is just how to keep orders coming in while finding the time to also fulfill them quickly. At some point, warehousing and distribution can literally take over your other business duties, customer complaints will mount and the business you worked so hard to build may become a nightmare of boxes and unhappy experiences for everyone. It doesn’t have to be this way, though. You might find a lot of relief by partnering with a 3rd party logistics, or 3PL, company. 3rd Party Logistics Companies Help Small Business with Big Fulfillment Expanding a small- to medium-sized business can be a tricky balancing act. You need the orders to keep rolling in, ...

The Internet is an incredible vehicle for marketers because there are simply so many people to see your message. It’s easy to just sit down and design an ad that will reach hundreds or thousands of people in no time. But that abundance can also be a problem, as small eCommerce companies like yours are far more likely to be overshadowed by bigger, better-funded performers who can shout louder than you ever could. What’s an eCommerce company to do? Boosting Your eCommerce Efforts with Bricks and Clicks “Bricks and clicks” is the web’s new favorite buzzword for a company that happens to have both a physical location and a virtual one. If you sell something from your physical store and ...

Marketing is often an experimental art and it doesn’t always go over well when placed in an unconventional location. For example, when dotcom companies branded people with their logos as “living billboards” in the early to mid 2000s, it was ultimately chalked up to a failed experience despite websites sometimes spending tens of thousands of dollars for a single tattoo advertisement. A new approach that’s gaining some traction is a little less controversial, but just as experimental: printing advertisements on shipping boxes. Can You Save Money By Selling Ad Space? Large organizations like the United States Postal Service and Amazon have danced with the idea of adding branding to their packaging. The cost for a single brand to advertise on ...

It’s not an uncommon thing for shoppers to turn to eCommerce businesses when looking for the perfect item. In fact, according to a UPS study, 51 percent of shoppers have made a purchase online in the last three months. That’s a lot of potential sales if you’re doing things right! Unfortunately, many eCommerce businesses are still making mistakes that are costing them customers every day. Common eCommerce Mistakes Cost You Plenty The funny thing about eCommerce mistakes is that they’re often accidental or simply caused by overlooking some small part of your business. Unfortunately, these little problems can snowball when customers are added into the mix, where they end up irritating visitors (or worse!) and result in lots of negative ...